Why A Borderlands Game Is Unlikely On The Nintendo Switch, According To Randy Pitchford

One of the hottest topics in gaming is the upcoming Nintendo Switch. The system has been on the receiving end of a lot of speculation about what might end up on the Switch. One game that now seems unlikely is Borderlands.

Gamespot is reporting that Randy Pitchford recently revealed in an interview with Glixel that Borderlands may not be the best fit for the Nintendo Switch right now, stating...

Most of the people that want the kind of big stuff that we're doing are totally happy to do it on their television with their PlayStations and their Xboxes, and Nintendo's not going to win by trying to take people away from that. They're going to win by offering something that those guys can't offer, which is exactly what they're doing and should be doing. That's where they should dedicate their resources. And I think they're really smart for doing it.

I agree that Nintendo should be doing what they're doing now. Not making another PC-clone like the PS4 and Xbox One is a smart move and gives gamers options, especially as VR and 4K-ready PCs continue to drop down in price, getting as low as $499. If you're going to be a game console you need to do something that you can't do on PC.

Nintendo seems to have found their niche, but software is still a problem. I think a lot of core gamers would still love to play Borderlands on the TV screen and have the option to play it on the go. Spec wise the Switch isn't too far off in performance (based on the available benchmarks) from the Xbox One, with large open world games being 900p at 30fps, while less taxing games are decked out at 1080p at 60fps. Essentially, if Gearbox can get Borderlands to run on the Xbox One they can get it to run on the Nintendo Switch, especially with native embedded support for the Unreal Engine 4 being available right out of the box for the Switch.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Sign up below to receive our weekly email with the best content about movies, news and television from the team at CinemaBlend

Heck, Borderlands 2 runs on the Nvidia Shield and the Switch is running on modified tech based on the Shield (though admittedly we still don't know if it's closer to Maxwell or Pascal).

However, Pitchford makes another good point in the interview, explaining that it may also come down to the numbers game. They don't just want to do a poor port because Nintendo paid them to do it. He also mentions that it would need to be fiscally viable for 2K Games and Take-Two Interactive. Ultimately, that means that Borderlands ending up on the Nintendo Switch would be determined by how many units Nintendo can sale and whether or not scaling for the system will be on the cards for Take-Two's budget. It's not a matter of if it's possible to run on the Switch, but a matter of if the sales numbers justify the expense to make it run on the Switch.

Pitchford doesn't completely rule out the possibility, saying that if the right scenario arises where the appropriate effort can be expended to make Borderlands on the Switch, then they could decide to make it happen.